Rigel

by Eli Ingle

  “Did you bring a light?” the pilot asked. Rigel shook his head. “Mmh. Me either.”

  Stepping inside, they waited for their eyes to adjust. The ruddy glow from outside filtered through the broken windows and let them see the room. A porcelain sink was attached to the wall and the charred structure of a dining table in the middle of the room. Everything else seemed to be destroyed: ash had swept into the corners of the room, more than ankle deep, as though a blast of fire had engulfed the town and nearly destroyed everything. Rigel walked around the table and jumped when he saw someone sitting at the table.

  “Agh!” he cried out, jumped back.

  “What?!” shouted Opal. Rigel pointed and the pilot followed his direction. “Oh.” She walked over to the figure. “Damn baby, you’re smokin’ hot!” She slapped it on the shoulder. With a hollow snap, the body fell forwards and the head pulled off the neck, rolling across the table and landing on the ashen floor with a quiet thud. Rigel swore and jumped out of the way as it passed.

  “Opal!” he shouted at her.

  For some reason the pilot seemed to think the whole thing was hilarious and was bent double with hysterical laughter.

  “Stop it!” Rigel said. “Opal, stop it!”

  “I’m sorry,” she laughed, not sounding it. Walking around the table she picked up the head and placed it on the table. This brought another burst of laughter.

  “What now?” asked Rigel, scowling at her.

  “Look!” she howled. “He’s beside himself!”

  Rigel rolled his eyes but froze as he heard a faint sniffing from outside.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  “What was what?” asked Opal, who had now managed to stifle her laughter down to chuckling.

  Something began scratching at a wall with what sounded like metal nails.

  “What was that?!” she said, pulling his pistol from its holster.

  “Shut up! Shut up!” Rigel shuffled over to the window and slowly leant sideways to get a better look. It was too dark to see anything except a deformed and twisted shadow. A guttural growl filled the air and the shadow disappeared.

  “Get back,” Opal demanded as she took cover against the door frame, holding the pistol with both hands.

  The dim light prevented them from seeing much, but the animal poked what looked like a snout around the door frame. Purple teeth glittered in its mouth, exposed as the animal growled, its jowls quivering with the vibrations. Opal twisted to the side and shot at it. The bullet grazed the top of the animal’s snout. It howled and growled again, taking a step further into the house.

  “That should have scared it off!” said Opal. “Get back.” She waved to Rigel with her right hand whilst the left held the pistol out, pointing at the door. Rigel hurried to the back wall and tipped the table over, hiding behind it. With a light thump, Opal jumped over the table and shuffled up beside Rigel, pressing her back against the wood. She twisted a dial on her gun. “This puts it on automatic fire, but it doesn’t have enough ammo to last long so get ready to run.” Rigel nodded. A thudding told them the animal had entered the house. Opal’s breath shuddered as she held the gun ready, muttering to herself. “Three, two, one!” She jumped up and unloaded the pistol, but after two seconds the gun clicked, empty. A growl filled the air, louder and more predatory than the last. Driven by instinct, Rigel jumped up and pulled Opal to the floor. A second later, the animal crashed into the wall after trying to dive at the pilot. Rigel stood up straight, threw out his arms and screamed at the monster. Heat filled his chest and the room exploded with a blinding white light. The animal howled in fear and scrabbled forwards. It collided with Rigel, who felt wiry fur, heat and drool before hitting the floor. The light was extinguished as he crashed into the ground, but the animal was already gone. Opal was shuddering, her head in her hands.

  “Are you alright?” asked Rigel.

  “Oh yeah, never better.”

  “Come on.”

  They stood up, looking around cautiously to make sure the animal had definitely gone. The skull from the table had bounced across the room and was now facing them, regarding them with a charcoaly grin.

  Moving outside, they then hurried back to the village entrance.

  “Captain!” shouted Opal. “Captain! Come back!”

  A minute later the captain returned with Quimby.

  “Did you find anything?” asked Laurie.

  “No,” said Opal, before proceeding to tell them what had happened.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Laurie said, looking anxious. “We didn’t find anything except the remains of a distress beacon. Nothing else. TINK!”

  “I’m right here,” said the mechanic. Rigel looked around to find the rest of the crew standing with him.

  “When did you get back?!” demanded Laurie.

  “A minute ago ….”

  “Oh, never mind! Come on.”

  They exited the village the way they had come in, passing the fallen airships on their way.

  As they cleared the mechanical graveyard, Rigel saw the Kolya in the distance, and beyond that, one of the many erupting volcanoes spewing toxic clouds of ash and smoke into the air.

  “We’ll walk to the ship and then activate the beacon,” said Laurie.

  Hurrying across the wasteland, they kept an eye out for any other animals that might attack them, but either they were not many there or Rigel’s attack had scared them away, for their return journey did not meet with difficulty.

  As they passed the opposite side of the ship and found themselves looking at the volcano, Laurie lifted up a hand and the group slowly came to a halt.

  “Alright Tink,” the captain said. “Fire it up.”

  The mechanic nodded and twisted a dial at the base of the glass ball. The spirals full of blood began to grow lighter, illuminating the blood until it began glowing a bright neon red.

  “Where do we – ?” began Rona, but Tink held up his hand.

  “Sh, shh,” he said, waving at her. She stopped talking.

  As Rigel watched, he saw the blood glow brighter until it was boiling hot, bubbling and hissing, spitting against the glass spirals and fizzing away. A white glowing ball appeared at the top of the glass dome and remained motionless. Rigel was just starting to wonder what its purpose was when it moved slowly downwards until it was hovering at the side of the ball furthest away from the crew.

  “We need to go that way,” Tink informed them, pointing in the direction in which the light was hovering.

  The scorching wind buffeted Laurie as he turned to face the group, ash flying between them. “Where do you think we should be going?” he asked Rigel and Rona.

  The two Light Ones looked at each other for a moment before turning on the spot. The other pilots respectfully moved out of the way so they had a clear view. A boom from the volcano drew their attention. Looking over at it, Rigel felt the air grow heavy and saw white light flickering from it. The vision hurt Rigel’s eyes, making him squeeze them shut. He moved his gaze to Rona.

  “Can you sense that?” he asked her. She nodded.

  “Whatever it is,” she said to Laurie. “It’s in that volcano.”

  “Great,” grumbled Tink.

  “Wasn’t there an idea floating about of leaving these two at home?” asked L’aroche, winking at the children.

  “There was,” agreed Laurie, “but without them we’d be out here for who knows how much longer. This way we can be in and out as quickly as possible.”

  “Heard that before,” muttered Opal.

  “What was that?” asked Laurie.

  “Nothing, sir,” she replied, smirking at Quimby.

  “Right, next stop, volcano!” called the captain.

  “Shortly followed by: certain death,” replied Spanner. Tink laughed.

  The crew resumed walking; now aiming their course for the volcano. The closer they came, the thicker the rivers of lava became and the more often
the fireballs would crash towards them. They were forced to begin making detours around large areas that could not be crossed. Rigel was beginning to feel tired; the suit might be cool and comfortable but it was heavy. Rona was struggling equally. He took her hand and jumped as he felt a spark of light pass between them. It seemed to run up his arm, swirl around his body, go back down his arm and into hers, repeat and come back. It grew faster until it was slightly disorientating and Rigel realised that their energy was bouncing back and forth, so that they were recharging each other.

  More time passed but at least the volcano was getting nearer. A screaming fireball made them all duck as it shot past, leaving a sulphurous smell behind. Small rivers of lava wound around, searing the cracked ground. Where the molten rock pressed against the ground it sizzled and spat up hot pieces of rock that split off from the floor. From where he was standing, Rigel could see that the floor here must be much hotter – the cracks were rippling and red hot; every time they took a step the ground sagged a little, indicating that it might not have long left.

  “We’ll have to do some jumping over these rivers,” instructed Laurie, pointing. “If you two get tired, ask one of us to carry you,” he told Rigel and Rona, who nodded.

  Moving forwards, they took running jumps over the rivers. At first it was easy: the streams of lava were small and they still had a lot of energy, but after a while they grew tired and landed closer and closer to the lava. Tink spotted them whilst they were too busy trying to avoid falling to a fiery death to ask for help. Scooping Rona up, he instructed Spanner to take Rigel, who put him on his back. The mechanics gave the Light Ones piggy backs, jumping with them over the rivers. The children’s long term malnourishment alongside the mechanic’s strength built of years of hard manual labour made this possible.

  “You’re strong to be able to carry me,” commented Rona. Tink grunted something wordless – it was obviously taking more effort than he realised.

  The pilots jumped again, making the Light One’s teeth clatter every time they hit the ground again, but they were too tired to complain.

  Eventually they were close enough to the entrance. Only one more river stood in their way. Several rocks poked out of the stream and the pilots were forced to hop across the rocks whilst attempting to balance the children on their backs. Rigel shut his eyes, not wanting to look at what could quite easily be his imminent death. Tink jumped across the final one but stumbled as he hit the rock bank. Rona squealed as she flew off the mechanic’s back and rolled across the ground. Tink swore loudly (sounding tinny through his mask) as the scorching ground burnt the leg of his outfit. He staggered to his feet and hurried over to Rona, pulling her up. Their outfits were slightly blackened and scorched but undamaged. The final jarring thud told Rigel that Spanner had gotten them across the river safely. He opened his eyes and saw that they were at the smoking hot base of the volcano. The ground released jets of sulphurous air and rocks crumbed under any pressure due to the heat.

  Scouting around the base of the volcano, they began to hear huge rumbling noises intermingled with an otherworldly screaming and howling.

  Continuing on their way, they rounded a corner and saw a shadow-darkened cut in the rock. They realised that they had found an entrance to a cave below the volcano. Wondering why lava was not pouring out, they stepped forwards. The sounds of roaring and screaming were louder here. Laurie was shaking his head.

  “Why did I pick such a stupid mission? And now we have to go in there and I don’t want to!”

  “There’s nothing we can do,” replied Tink, wrapping his arm around his captain’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine. There’s nothing we can do about it anyway, is there?”

  Shaking his head, Laurie led them forwards and into the heat of the cave.

  Inside, Rigel despaired to realise that their suits barely helped them with the temperature – he felt faint, sweaty, and as though the inside of his lungs were burning. Walking down further, they found that the light from outside was replaced by a new kind of light, almost as if it were emanating from the volcano itself. Another roar, louder this time, bounced off the walls, making them jump and clutch each other.

  Hurrying further down, they heard the sounds of the fight becoming louder. Grunting and the clanging of a sword were interspersed with roars and screams of pain from either side.

  Crouching against the wall, they leaned around the corner to see two shadows flashing against the wall. The assailants were circling each other. After a moment of this they rushed at each other and began fighting again. Rigel heard laboured breathing and wondered if the fight had been going on for some time.

  “Ready?” asked Laurie. Everyone shook their head. “Well, we’re going in anyway.”

  They rounded the corner. Rigel looked up and froze, his throat contracting and his breath failing in his chest. A huge monster, as tall as a double decker bus, was standing at the end of the chamber; fire filled it and there was a gash down its chest. Lava dripped out of the cut where blood should have been spilling. A boy who looked just a little older than Rigel was stood in the middle of the chamber, a thin sword in his hand. He was panting and looked exhausted; he could barely hold it up straight. The crew running around the corner seemed to have the desired effect, however. The monster’s attention was distracted by their shouting. The boy took the chance, not pausing long enough to think, and dived towards the monster. The sword buried itself in its chest, sending a spray of hot fire across the room. The monster roared, its limbs crashing wildly as the flames continued to pour from its body. The boy was thrown as the monster’s swinging spun him around and sent him flying into the opposite wall. Fruitlessly it struggled to dislodge the blade from its heart, managing only to snap off the handle. Its hands were so big that they were not up to the job. It thumped the blade and managed to lodge it in further. The monster screamed, making the walls and rocks shake with the reverberations. It staggered into the wall, bounced off and then fell to the floor with an almighty thud that rattled the cave around them. It lay there, growing stiller until the lava around its body cooled and both the body and the pool became cold stone. The boy stared at the monster, looking as though he was waiting for it to stand up again. Once he realised it was dead, he stood up and looked at them wearily.

  “Who are you?” he called over, keeping his distance.

  “Friends,” replied Laurie.

  The captain stepped forwards, about to explain everything, when a chilling laugh echoed through the cave. A hazy figure appeared on one of the rocks at the end of the cave. The haze clearer a little and they saw the figure strike a dramatic pose, a long black sword in one hand and a thin, twisted cane in the other. It was robed in black with a wicked sharpness. A chill spread through Rigel’s body – he had met this man before.

  “Very good, very good indeed,” said Frivlok, jumping down from the rock lightly and clapping his hands. “I am most impressed … fighting off that monster by yourself. You’ve shown as much determination and strength as Rigel and Rona here did when they fought that demon lurking in the tree in the woods.”

  The Light Ones looked at each other – how did Frivlok know about that?

  The pilots did not wait to hear any more of what he had to say. They had loaded their rifles and all shot a round at him. The bullets screamed towards him but he deflected them all with a lazy spin of his sword. They burst into black smoke and drifted away. Rigel gulped.

  “Tsk, tsk. Where are your manners?” Frivlok asked, looking disappointed. “I haven’t even introduced myself to the boy.”

  “Hey kid!” shouted Tink. “Stay away from him – he’s evil!”

  Rigel noticed the subtle tilt as the boy leaned away to try and run but before the boy had any chance of escaping, Frivlok was already by his side, a hand around his shoulder. Rigel was beginning to panic – he did not want the same thing to happen to this boy as had happened to Iselt. Raising a hand he sent a stream of white energy towards Frivlok, who pointed hi
s sword at the stream. The blade seemed to absorb the stream of white light, which grew a slick black as it did so. The man tsked again and with a swing of his sword sent the energy streaming back at them. Ducking out of the way, the pilots reformed, taking pot shots at Frivlok. Rigel and Rona spread out to either side, slowly circling him as they worked out what to do. Frivlok brought his blade to the boy’s throat.

  “Come on now,” he crooned, “I’m sure we can work this all out. I’m sure we’ll be able to come to some sort of agreement.”

  The boy shouted and a blast of white light erupted from him, causing Frivlok to curse and stumble away. Regrouping with Rigel and Rona, the three Light Ones circled the Dark Angel together.

  “Got you now, haven’t we?” the new boy said, energy crackling around his hands.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure of yourself,” advised Frivlok. “Arrogance is so often linked to ignorance.” A grin split his face, looking like dead parchment and even more terrible than when he was expressionless. Frivlok brought the cane and sword outwards, sending a stream of black magic towards the group. Rigel was hit in the stomach and fell to the floor, retching and moaning, nearly senseless with pain. A dull sickness, a blinding nausea spread through his veins, his vision going purple.

  When the pain subsided slightly, he heard cries around him and realised that Rona and the boy had also been hit. Cold hands scooped him up and he saw through bleary eyes that Frivlok was holding them all close to him.

  “Well, thank you for the children. They will be most useful to me. Best be off now. Farewell Orunstone. Have fun explaining to your king and queen what happened to these two treasures,” he said, ruffling their hair as if he were an affectionate uncle before laughing cruelly. He twisted in the air and a cool blackness enveloped them. It was like walking through a cold stream.

  When Rigel opened his eyes again the sights he saw made him almost wish that he had been killed back in the cave. At first he was filled with a moment of hope as he recognised the shape of the Ministry and the tram system but then dread and horror filled him as he realised he was looking at a shadow version of Kozenia – the layout was similar but the buildings were mutilated and cannibalised, either broken and disused or being used for some other ill purpose: the tram tracks had carts that were being pulled by slaves and the roof of the Ministry was burning. Everything was dead. Buildings lay in ruins and the sky was an inky black. Any trees that had previously stood were barren and rotting. Twisted shadows and demons lurked in the corners, watching their progress with malevolent interest. Several people were there, and from the chained and beaten look of them, covered in bruises and welts, they were obviously slaves. Many were left in cages suspended from buildings where the others could taunt and throw things at them. Others were being led off in a line and taken to what looked like the mouth of a hideous lair.